For ages, Indian cricket carried on with an unwanted tag of being labelled as 'Lions At Home' And 'Lambs Abroad'.. The sub continent giants were a powerhouse at home under the aegis of Kapil Dev and Mohammad Azharuddin notching up a spree of victories in their own den but seldom won abroad during the 80s and 90s..
Building a fortress at home with their heavy batting arsenal and spin armory, Indians had the pedigree but lacked the will to compete against the big guns of international cricket, namely the Australians, South Africans and English on their seaming and swinging decks. Series whitewash and one sided scorelines in overseas engagements had become the usual norm, much to the disappointment of the 'Blue Brigade'.
The turn of the century also ushered in a new era in Indian cricket with a change of guard at the very top .. With their seasoned skipper Mohammad Azharuddin bidding adieu to the sport amidst the match fixing saga, Sourav Ganguly took over the reigns of Indian cricket amid turbulent times.. Dubbed as the 'Lord Of The Off Side', Ganguly with those booming drives and well timed sky rocketing sixes had already established himself as a prolific opening batsman, especially in the white ball format where he formed a lethal opening partnership with 'Master Blaster ' Sachin Tendulkar.
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While the 'Prince Of Kolkata' did enough with his run scoring exploits to rank him among the finest lefthanders in ODI cricket, Ganguly had built a reputation of sorts of being a leader among stalwarts in Indian cricket, who many thought to be very instinctive in his decisions and never shied away from speaking out his mind.
Forming a lethal think tank with New Zealand coach John Wright. the charismatic captain instilled a self believe and fearless attitude into the Indian team that they could not just compete against the best in the world but also beat them in their own backyard.. Much to his good fortune, Ganguly led a star studded team which had quite a few modern day greats of the game in Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Anil Kumble and Virender Sehwag.
With a core nucleus of Indian legends under his command, Ganguly had a keen eye to spot talent and identified a spree of talented youngsters who would go onto become the future of Indian cricket.. Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar all were groomed, mentored and backed to the hilt by 'Dada'.. What unfolded in the long run was the genesis of an Indian team having a nice blend of experience and youth. The sub continent tigers became a force to reckon with on foreign soil besides continuing their good run of form at home.
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In a highly successful captaincy stint which saw Indian cricket scale many heights, Ganguly's most cherished pieces of victories would be ending Waugh-led Australia's winning juggernaut by beating them in the epic 2001 Test series at home, winning the Natwest Trophy at Lord’s in 2002, leading the team to the 2003 ICC World Cup final, drawing a Test series against England in Test series in 2004, and beating arch rivals Pakistan in a Test series in 2005.
21 Test wins in 49 Tests as captain made Ganguly the most successful Indian Test skipper, till the time his successors MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli bettered that impressive record. More importantly 10 of those 21 wins came on foreign soil against quality oppositions. Under Ganguly, the 'Men in Blue' enjoyed a decent run in one day cricket too, winning 76 out of the 146 matches. Dada's ODI's win percentage as skipper stood at a pretty decent 53.90%.
Many experts believe that his inspirational leadership took away a lot from his colossal contribution with the bat in making India a notable force in world cricket. Ganguly racked up 11,363 runs at a staggering average of 40.73 laced with 22 centuries and 72 fifties. He also picked up 100 ODI wickets. In 113 Tests for India, Ganguly scored 7,212 Test runs at a healthy average of 42.18, including 16 tons.
One of the finest left-handers to have graced world cricket, Sourav Ganguly would be remembered till eternity for being the 'Captain Courageous' who changed the very face of Indian cricket and transformed them into world beaters from formidable challengers.
The spadework for a very strong foundation laid down by Sourav Ganguly was fortified by Mahendra Singh Dhoni and later on by Virat Kohli resulting in Indian team scaling lofty heights in all formats of the game.